By Chemeketa Public Affairs

Chemeketa Scholars has made a great impact on the lives of many community members, including Dylan Smith who, before learning about the Chemeketa Scholars program, doubted he’d be able to attend college.

Then he heard about the Chemeketa Scholars program. Dylan quickly met with a counselor at Sprague High School to learn more, then applied and was accepted to the first Scholars cohort.

“When I was accepted as a Chemeketa Scholar I was hopeful and relieved” he remembers, “I could see a bright future ahead of me.”

Dylan found that attending Chemeketa helped him ease into life as a successful college student. “I got practice studying for college-level exams, taking notes and improving my organizational skills” he says, “I also learned how to balance school, life and my job in Chemeketa’s tutoring center.”

He graduated from Chemeketa with his AAOT in 2010, then transferred to the University of Oregon. After he received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2012, Dylan decided to come back to Chemeketa to volunteer as a tutor.

“I feel like I owe a lot to Chemeketa and I wanted to give back.” After a couple months of volunteering, a temporary position became available and Dylan became a part-time tutor and math tutor coordinator for Chemeketa.

While he plans to eventually receive a graduate degree in Psychology, Dylan finds joy being back where his higher education began. “I like where I am, I like my job and being a part of Chemeketa’s close-knit and friendly community. I can see myself here for many years to come.”

By Chemeketa Public Affairs

Chemeketa Community College has developed a strong connection to Nicaragua. A winter term course at the college culminates in students heading to the Latin American nation during spring break to participate in rural humanitarian health care assistance.

The bond between the college and Nicaragua will continue when two Oregon-based authors come to campus on Saturday, Feb. 23 to give a presentation of how U.S. policies from the 1980’s in Nicaragua continue to impact the country today.

Paul Dix and Pam Fitzpatrick will speak on their book, “Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy” from 11:45 am to 12:45 pm in the Building 7, Room 107 on the Salem campus.

“I think our strength (in our presentation) is that we share personal stories of the long-term consequences of a U.S.-funded war,” Fitzpatrick said.

The talk is part of the “International Community Service in Action” humanities course taught by Cecelia Monto, but the public is invited to attend.

From 1985 to 1990, Dix, a photographer, worked in Nicaragua as with Witness for Peace, an organization opposed to American funding of Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Starting in 2002, Dix and Fitzpatrick, who also worked for Witness for Peace, began making return trips to Nicaragua to locate 100 of the people he photographed during the 1980s. Over eight years and four extended trips, they eventually found almost all of the people they sought.

Through photographs and personal testimonies from both the 1980s and 2000s, the book shows how the country remains impacted by the Contra War.

The break between winter and spring term has brought an annual trip to Nicaragua by Chemeketa students enrolled in Monto’s class to provide health care support in rural communities through Nicaragua-based humanitarian agency AMOS Health.